Night Prowler (song)

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Night Prowler is the final track on AC/DC's album Highway to Hell. It is known among other AC/DC songs for its slow rhythm as well as its controversy stemming from a 1984 murder case.

1 Instrumentation
2 "Night Stalker" controversy
3 Personnel
4 References

[edit] Instrumentation

Angus Young and Malcolm Young both tune their guitars a half step down in this song, and the tempo is slowed down as well. The song is in 12/8 time signature, which makes it unusual for AC/DC songs, which are almost exclusively in 4/4 time.

[edit] "Night Stalker" controversy

Main article: Richard Ramirez

In June 1984, a highly publicized murder case began revolving around Richard Ramírez, who was responsible for several brutal killings in Los Angeles. Nicknamed the "Night Stalker," Ramírez was a fan of AC/DC, particularly the song "Night Prowler." Police also claimed that Ramirez was wearing an AC/DC shirt and left an AC/DC hat at one of his crime scenes. During the trial, Ramírez shouted "Hail Satan!" and showed off the pentagram carved into his palm. This brought extremely bad publicity on AC/DC whose concerts and albums were campaigned against by parents of the Los Angeles area.^[1] On VH1's Behind the Music on AC/DC, the band claimed that while the song had taken on a murderous connotation by Ramírez, it is actually about a boy sneaking into his girlfriend's bedroom at night.